Awakening (For CHEESEPUFF fg)
by Steampunk Wilson
Summary: After the events of DarkFlight, Zane finally wakes up to a very different group of ninja he left four years ago. A spin off oneshot to my story, DarkFlight, one of a few sequels to come out :) And a birthday present for my author friend.


**Happy Birthday CHEESEPUFF fg! I hope you like this becaue your comments at the end of that story I wrote over a year ago helped inspire it, so thank you for being an awesome author friend!**

**Soo, yeah, this is a sequel oneshot based off DarkFlight. Hope you enjoy! :)**

_Up Down Syncronise Left Communicate Systems Up Anti-Virus Systems Up Get Up… Come on Zane. Get UP!_

Zane's eyes flickered open. After the first few seconds of confusion as he tried to remember, well, anything, his eyes became accustomed to the harsh blinking lights which seemed to be burning into his metallic cornea. He didn't know where he was, but he knew enough to figure out this wasn't where he had been knocked out.

Knocked out… how had he been knocked out again? The last thing he remembered…

"Zane?" A soft voice cut through his confusion.

"Jay!" Zane exclaimed. "Jay, we've got to-"

"Zane!" The voice came to him again. "It's OK, you're safe now." But it was the hand placed ontop of his own that made him look up.

"PIXAL?" He said, trying to make sense of it all. "What, what are you doing here?"

"I work here silly." PIXAL said with a comforting smile.

"Work… work here…" Zane looked around. He was lying on a metal table in what, after a moment's afterthought, appeared to be Cyrus Borg's office. "What am I doing here? The last thing I remember… I remember…" A burst of pain shot through his metallic skull and he groaned slightly."

"Why don't I remember!" He exclaimed worriedly.

"It's OK Zane!" PIXAL said comfortingly. "Some of your most recent memories were lost when we re-did your programming. But you're going to be fine."

"Re- re-did my programming?" Zane murmured. "But how, it was individual, you said so yourself, and why would I-" He gasped as a colourful image flew into his head.

_"__Look after him Zane, please, until I can help Lloyd-"_

"Gideon." Zane whispered. The boy's name was Gideon.

"What?"

"Gideon, he… I, PIXAL, what is going on?! How long have I been out?!"

PIXAL was about to answer when the door slid open to reveal Cyrus Borg wheeling himself in.

"Ah, Zane, you're awake, excellent!" Cyrus Borg grinned. Zane just stared. The last time he had seen Cyrus, he had still been young and black haired, however now his face was wrinkled with age and his hair was streaked with grey. Obviously time had passed.

"How long has it been, Mr Borg?" Zane asked anxiously. "How long was I out?" Borg and PIXAL exchanged glances.

"Just about four years." Borg answered in a monotone. "DarkFlight managed to destroy major programming components vital to your consciousness. It was a fiddly job, but I've managed to replicate nearly all of the lost data! Except for the memories lost in the hours leading up to your diablisation, but I-" He stopped as he realised Zane wasn't listening.

The nindroid's mind was filled with brightly coloured images, so bright they hurt, of his friends, his friend's kids…

Kids.

They had to hide them from DarkFlight.

"DarkFlight!" Zane gasped. "It's been four years! What are they doing, the ninja need my help-"

"Zane, calm down!" PIXA said urgently. "Your stress levels are rapidly increasing and-"

"But what's been going on!" Zane demanded. "I need to help my friends!"

"And you will." PIXAL told him in a firm voice. "But first you need rest, you need to get used to using your body again." She rested a hand on his arm, making him look up at her. Her eyes were an instant comforting presence and Zane released a breath that would have been impossible for a human to hold in.

"All in good time." PIXAL said with a smile. "You've always been so patient, surely you can hold on for just a bit longer.

Zane sighed, and nodded.

"OK." He managed a weak smile which PIXAL returned.

"Just a routine check-up first Zane." Borg said, wheeling himself over. Then we can send for the ninja-"

"Someone say our names?" With a sudden burst of delight, Zane looked over to the door so fast he might have shaken a bolt loose. There stood Kai in a red t-shirt and leather jacket, hair as spiked as ever, and when he looked over and their eyes met, positively glowing with happiness.

"ZANE!" Kai cried, and the people standing behind him were quick to follow suit. After Kai, Nya came rushing in and enveloped him in a hug, then Skylor, grinning madly and tearing up slightly, and then, Zane could hardly believe it, Cole was bringing up the rear! The Black Ninja looked overjoyed, his one healthy eye glistening.

"Zane!" He said happily. "Never thought I'd be so glad to see you, you old tin can!"

Zane let his friends wrap their hugs around him, but internally, he was trying to puzzle the situation out. He saw Cole, who he hadn't seen for almost nineteen years, a pleasant surprise, but no Jay, and no Lloyd, though considering the events of the past decade, that wasn't surprising.

"Guys?" Zane managed to choke out through the hugs and exclamations of delight. "What, what are you all doing here? Where's Jay?"

For a moment, they were all silent and Zane knew what they would say even before they said it.

"No!" He gasped. "It can't be, how, how did it happen?!"

Nobody answered. They couldn't bring themselves to speak.

"It was a fight." PIXAL finally spoke up. A big fight with DarkFlight. They raided the headquarters, don't worry, the kids managed to get out fine, but Jay… he died fighting, he was with Cole, he was defending them. He didn't suffer long."

"Suffer…" Zane murmured. Jay, his comrade, his friend, Jay had taught him about humour, tried to get him to see the funny and cool side of being a robot, Jay who helped them stay positive throughout Morro's reign, Jay building gadgets, Jay laughing, Jay's failed attempts to flirt with Nya Jay…

"Jay… Jay's dead?" He whispered. "I… we… we've got to make them pay!" His eyes narrowed angrily. "DarkFlight-"

"Zane, calm down, your stress levels are increasing!" PIXAL grabbed his hand, but being caught up in anger, Zane shoved her off.

"Zane, buddy, take it easy!" Cole exclaimed.

"No! We can't just sit back and do nothing!" Zane argued. "We need to find them, keep the kids safe-"

"The kids are safe!" Nya said. "DarkFlight is over. We won."

This made him stop.

"Won?" Zane asked. "How, how did we win?"

"Well, long story, kinda," Kai rubbed the back of his neck. "That troublemaker, Cecilia Wood? Well, after escaping and dragging us all into a ton of danger, and then, after some pretty badass fighting skills, from your's truly, " Kai was obviously trying to make light of the situation, but was fooling nobody. "And then… she basically told them all off and… someone shot Jackeline."

"Jackeline?"

"Oh, that's their leader." Kai went on. "Nasty woman. Narcissistic bitch. Lloyd's sort of ex-girlfriend."

"WHAT!"

Everyone shot looks at Kai, who bit his lip.

"Yeah, we sort of found Lloyd." His hands began to fidget. "He was too nervous to come in, so he's hiding out in the corridor…" Zane put a hand over his face.

"Nice going, airhead." Cole muttered out of the corner of his mouth.

Zane sighed.

"I think I need… a minute to process all this information." He said slowly. "Can you…"

"Wait outside?" Nya asked in a soft voice. Zane nodded. Sharing saddened looks, the ninja all retreated back to the corridor. PIXAL, who had been standing off to the side throughout the whole encounter, came over to him.

"Do you want me to give you a minute too?" She asked. Zane hesitated, and then shook his head.

"It's just… so much." He whispered. "The last thing I remember was agreeing to cover for Kai to take in Tabitha Shawl, and then… I'm here, and Jay isn't and Lloyd… I haven't seen him in almost nineteen years, PIXAL! And how did you even replace my coding? I thought it was lost, my father built that, it's irreplaceable!"

"Zane, your coding wasn't entirely lost." PIXAL explained. "Despite his double life, Lloyd was careful to protect your form and leave the computer chips where-" She stopped with a gasp. Zane frowned for a moment, then his eyes widened.

"It was LLOYD!" He gasped. "He was the DarkFlight agent who disabled me, it's his fault I wasn't fighting when they invaded, if I was there, maybe Jay would be here-"

"ZANE!" PIXAL's voice sounded harsh. "Lloyd was forced to work for DarkFlight after two years of torture. He was captured and only saw his son for the first time in over ten years until very recently. He regrets what he did and-"

"I need to talk to him." Zane sat up again, attempting to stand.

"What, Zane, no, you just restarted half an hour ago, you need rest-"

"PIXAL!" Zane said with an angry frown. "I need to do this. I need to see him." Zane was slightly surprised when she sighed and let him up.

Zane's feet were a little unsteady and the prospect of getting himself out of the door and down the corridor to find Lloyd was a little daunting, but he was determined. He managed to get out of the room, pausing for a moment to rest on the doorframe. When he heard PIXAL move behind him, presumably to help him, which encouraged him to get going again.

The other ninja were hanging near a vending machine, all talking together. None of them saw him. Nya had a hand to her face and it looked like she was crying, but Zane could see no trace of Lloyd, so tore his eyes away and looked down the Borg Enteprises corridor.

There he was. Despite not having seen Lloyd in almost nineteen years, Zane knew immediately. The short, slightly stocky blonde was sat by the water cooler, a plastic cup in hand. His hair was a lot shorter than it had been, curling slightly around his temples. He wore a buttoned up jade green polo shirt and an abandoned green jacket sat next to him. He wore strange leather cuffs around his wrists and somehow seemed a lot older. A lot more mature looking.

Step by cautious step, Zane made his way over. He reached his former friend in less than a minute, although it had begun to feel like an eternity.

Lloyd didn't look up. He didn't even seem to know that Zane was there. The intense fixation as he stared at his cup… reminded Zane of something, and a memory flashed through his mind.

_He raised the gun and fired. No hesitation. It was a DarkFlight agent going to try stealing somebody else's kid. Zane had no regret about killing one. The bullet hit home and the agent stumbled slightly, but kept coming. Zane fired again, but all the gun did was a small clicking sound. It was out of bullets._

_Then the agent came close enough so that Zane could see his face, and then it all went black._

"I shot you." Zane said with a little gasp, the flashback unsettling him. Lloyd jumped and looked up. What little colour was in his face drained out instantly.

"Zane?" He gasped. "You, you're-"

"Alive? Yes." Zane regained his ice-cold demeanour. "Borg managed to fix my programming. Apparently, you didn't try hard enough to disable me."

"Zane…" Lloyd tried to argue, but it was obvious there was nothing he could say. "I was a double agent, I had to-"

"So you had no other choice?" Zane asked sarcastically. "You're a ninja, Lloyd, or you were a ninja."

"I, I am a ninja." Lloyd frowned. "I spent ages in the battle with DarkFlight trying to prove Jackeline and all those other jerks wrong, that I'm not an agent, and sometimes, I'm not entirely sure if I should have bothered! One of the hardest things I ever did was incapacitate you, and I still feel bad!" Lloyd had gone from stubborn resolution to emotional outburst in about twenty seconds, and Zane was surprised. Clearly Lloyd had changed. They all had. Cole was back with the team, Nya had lost the father of her children, but still appeared to be going strong. They had all changed.

"I don't doubt that." Zane said eventually. "I don't doubt that you had to go through that. In all fairness, after everything you've gone through already since I've known you, it does make logical sense that the same bad things happen."

Lloyd gave small chuckle. "Thanks buddy. Though it's good you're starting to sound like yourself again."

Zane gave a small nod. "What I don't understand though, is why? Why couldn't you have just come back to us then and there? Someone was messing with the radio that night, it was you, wasn't it? I heard your voice."

Lloyd nodded. "I was trying to warn you before it got nasty. But… I'm sorry it didn't work."

"Why didn't you just run from whomever else was hiding in the trees and re-join you. We would have been delighted, Harumi would have been delighted."

Lloyd gave a small smile.

"We're still working things out in the romantic department." He muttered, flushing a little. "But, I guess… I was scared."

"Scared?" Zane raised an eyebrow. Lloyd gave a shaky nod.

"Yeah, scared of, of what you would think of me. I'd been missing for fourteen years! I'd been working with DarkFlight, our worst enemies! I was scared that, that you'd think I was a traitor. But if… doing that to you convinced me of anything, it was that I was a traitor."

"No." Zane said firmly, a total change of opinion from his earlier perspective. "You are not a traitor Lloyd. You're still here, that's proof."

Lloyd gave a small smile, and pulled Zane in for a hug.

"Aww would you look at that." The pair stiffened and turned to see the rest of the ninja and PIXAL watching them.

"Nice to see you up and about Zane." Kai said with a smile.

Zane nodded. "It's good to be back." His smile turned into a grin. "So, what else did I miss? How did Cole come back?"

Cole gave a small laugh.

"That, my friend, is a long story." He said with a grin.

"Well it's a good thing we have a while to get through it." Zane said, smiling, as he put an arm around Cole's shoulders.

He was back where he belonged.

**:)**

**I might post more of these when I come out of hiatus after my exams.**


End file.
